Welcome to the Gun Show
by Readwitch
Summary: Rachel didn't quite give up when Quinn came back to glee with freshly blonde hair.  But what was she to do.  When everybody takes action in the intense dodgeball game, Rachel notices how into it Quinn is and comes up with a plan to help her let off steam.


Author's Note: Alright, sorry to everyone waiting on an update for my other story. I've been trying and I have two partial different versions, but it's just not flowing the way I want it to. I'm trying and hopefully will have something soon. Hope this tides you over a bit.

Welcome To the Gun Show

Prologue

The girls slowly trickled into the locker room, the Trouble Tones immediately branching off into their own little laughing section. Rachel frowned at them from behind her locker door as she began to change back into her normal dress. She was, though, thankful that Santana had managed to swipe the key for the rooms from the night janitor for their illegal, after school session. She certainly didn't want to have to wear these sweaty clothes all the way home.

Currently, neither of their teams had enough members to compete, but the Trouble Tones were gaining a strong reputation as the elite all-female team. New Directions, meanwhile, accepted anyone and could only claim seven males and three females. All the girls that had left their group cited Rachel, and her solos, as their main reason for leaving, and Rachel was starting to get a little down about it. She wondered secretly how long Quinn and Tina would last.

She didn't know what to do about it. She was the captain. They had voted her in, with Mr. Shuester forcing her to take a co-captain of her choice. But, even after two years together, they still despised her. She hadn't even…She hadn't sang a single solo for glee club yet, hadn't even been there when Mercedes left. Yet…yet.

She pushed it out of her mind. If they thought they could beat her group with their privately sponsored team, with only two real singers and a group of back-up dancers, then they were welcome to try. Santana and Mercedes always sounded wonderful together, but they were somewhat one-note at times. They had very similar techniques and, while Brittany was passible on voice, all they had to do was complicated harmonies and show off their versatility and they would be set.

You know, if Shuester didn't ruin them. She'd let Finn feel good as a captain and choose their Mash-Up since this competition didn't _really_ matter, but come sectionals…well, they would blow the Trouble Tones away.

Hopefully that would be enough to push away that aching feeling in her chest. The swirling mess of missing their former members and that nauseating guilt that just wouldn't go away.

She swallowed thickly.

A slamming locker pulled her from her thoughts.

She hurriedly finished pulling her clean shirt over her head and tilted her head to surreptitiously find the noise. Tina was finished and had closed her locker, but was now hanging out by the mirrors, putting on some make-up and fixing her hair. Quinn, though, hadn't even started yet, just standing and surveying the room with that angry, wretched expression she wore whenever she thought people wouldn't notice.

Rachel frowned. She noticed. How could she not? It was Quinn.

But despite noticing, despite knowing that Quinn wasn't as happy as she seemed, Rachel had yet to do anything about it.

She wanted to, was fully prepared to at the beginning of the year, but then everything changed. When Quinn did a 180 with her appearance, Rachel was immediately worried. The pink hair, the dark clothes, the tattoo, the nose ring; it was an obvious cry for help.

Not that there was anything wrong with how she looked. As someone heavily involved in the arts, Rachel was actually fairly used to that look. Not to mention, Quinn still managed to look quite fetching.

Except for the tattoo….that was ridiculous.

And, okay, she really missed the girl showering regularly.

But it was such a drastic change in such a short amount of time, and Quinn began socially isolating herself and changing in all sorts of unhealthy ways. All the changes… Rachel was concerned. The first week of school had Quinn missing at least half her classes.

So she stepped in and searched the girl out, even braving those "Skank" girls to find her. It hadn't gone quiet like she had hoped, but she had extended her hand, so to speak, and let Quinn know she was there for her. She didn't want to force anything, push her into a corner and make her weary, she just wanted to help and let Quinn know she cared.

Because she did care.

She doesn't know what happened next, but she knows the blonde hair and the return to glee club was not a result of her meddling. Fake was a mask Quinn was used to wearing, so of course she wore it well, but Rachel was smarter than, well, most of her peers at the school. And the teachers. Plus she had a sixth sense. She knew something was still wrong, she just didn't know what. But she didn't know how to proceed.

Rachel was still afraid of pushing too hard and making things worse, but now she didn't even have a starting point. And all her other issues, the play, her mother, Mercedes, and Kurt, just kept piling up. So she put in on the back burner.

She wasn't a therapist, after all. Quinn wasn't coming to her and asking for help and Rachel didn't have any life altering epiphanies hiding up her sleeve. All she knew was the Quinn, no matter how good she was at hiding it, was messed up.

Although…right now, Quinn was looking a little more…relaxed than she normally did. Leaning up against the locker, Quinn was sweeping her cool gaze over the room. She still had that somewhat apathetic, vaguely miserable look on her face, but her jaw was a little less tight, less clenched, and she stood a little less stiff.

A new thought entered her head, and Rachel couldn't help tilting her head a little as she observed the other girl. She had an idea, a horribly wonderful idea.

Quinn, who had been unabashedly watching Rachel watch her, was struck by a cold web of fear as Rachel developed a crazy, yet somewhat familiar flint in her eyes.

Just for the record, Quinn was _not_ watching the other girls change. It was just…okay, so she had decided that she no longer cared what other people thought about her. The pink hair, the ironic tattoo, the nose piercing- it had been enough to give her mom a heart attack.

And Quinn didn't care.

She didn't care if she wasn't getting straight As or if the dye job wasn't completely perfect. She didn't care if she was getting called a bitch or a slut. She didn't care that all of her relationships ended badly or that she felt like she had a hole in heart after giving away her baby. She didn't care that she was probably going to be stuck in Lima for the rest of her life.

So she certainly didn't care about a couple added pounds from the summer.

She had eventually, mostly, gotten her pre-baby body back, but this year she wasn't rejoining the cheerios and exercise in general didn't really fit with her new image. So she had spent most of the summer lounging around, smoking and drinking, maybe sneaking in to the occasional movie.

Because she didn't care what people thought about her or her body now. Really. She didn't. But, she was still just a little hesitant – for completely valid reasons – about changing in front of the other girls.

Especially Rachel, who had told her Quinn was the prettiest girl she had ever met. Who, truthfully, was also a very pretty girl and who had continued exercising during the summer. Who had been, for at least ten minutes now, staring at the still clothed Quinn.

Quinn maintained eye contact – she would not be intimidated by Rachel Berry and her crazy eyes! – even when the gaze got a bit intense. The stood staring at each other, Rachel still only partially changed and Quinn not started – when a throat clearing interrupted them, though they didn't break gaze.

From the corner of her eye, Tina, who had taken forever to finish up – stood watching them stare at each other. The other girl took a small step forward and opened her mouth.

And then abruptly closed it without saying a word. With a last nervous glance at the two girls, Tina practically ran out of the room. Quinn, finally breaking Rachel's gaze to watch the other girl flee, decided it would probably be best to follow, especially since it didn't seem like Rachel was leaving any time soon.

Which was fine. She could stop and change at home and then drop by to visit Beth. She had an awesome gift for her at home, so she needed to stop there anyways. She finally completely turned away from Rachel and her crazy eyes and grabbed her stuff.

Of course, the movement just had to wake Rachel up from whatever weird trance she was under.

"Quinn, wait!" Rachel screeched after her, quickly pulling at her shorts and grabbing for her skirt.

Inexplicably, Quinn did.

It was weird, but, for all that she had hated and despised Rachel in the past, Rachel was really the only one in glee right now that she…who she didn't…that was tolerable.

Rachel was just…always there. Quinn generally never wanted her to be, but she was. After a while you got used to her.

She got exactly two e-mails a week from Rachel, which she ignored, asking her how everything was and telling her what was going on. She was invited to two pool parties, Puck's and Mercedes' birthdays, a bowling glee-off, and a BBQ. She got a handful of phone calls that went unanswered and Rachel did show up at her home once.

Quinn turned off the lights and pretended no one was home.

And, Quinn ran into Rachel one town over, near the local, summer fair, when she was first hanging out with the Skanks. Mack was making out with her gross boyfriend and Quinn was waiting for her to so they could leave, which meant waiting with the dude's skeevy friend – who was supposedly a college freshmen but looked like he was forty. Rachel was apparently at the fair with Finn and saw them and felt the need to stop by, though she had been smart enough to leave Finn waiting in line. Rachel had tried to make small talk, but Quinn had ignored her. When she persisted, Quinn had stomped off.

She made sure to take skeevy Stevie with her, though. She certainly wasn't going to leave him with Rachel. He was a gross college freshman and she was the size of a twig.

Nobody else had made that much effort. Santana and Brittany called and texted her a couple of times the first week, but pattered out as they figured out their relationship. Sam left her a letter explaining that he had moved. And Mercedes invited her over once, right near the end. Judging by the girl's Facebook feed, she wanted to invite everyone over to gush about her new boyfriend.

And when Rachel saw her on the first day of school, the first time her ensemble and hair was completely put together, the girl hadn't recoiled or looked at her with shock and disgust like the rest of them. Didn't think of her as a jolly rancher that feel in an ashtray or a selfish little girl that need to grow up.

And when Rachel wanted to talk to her, she didn't corner her in when she was alone to yell at her. Rachel sought her out in her own environment where she felt safe, under the bleachers, and surrounded by the skanks. It would have been so easy to gang up on her and rough her up or… something. They had already started messing around with some of the new freshmen and Mack even offered to beat up the girl.

Yet, in spite of that risk, Rachel still found her and took a risk on her. Trusted her, even surrounded by hostile girls in a place the teachers couldn't see. Didn't yell at her or insult her. Didn't make any demands.

Rachel complimented her voice and said she missed her. Said she'd wait.

So Quinn stopped and waited for her now. Even though she knew she'd regret it. Although, she did make sure to wait outside the locker room. She didn't want to just stand there and watch Rachel change.

Soon enough, Rachel came flying out the door, as if Satan or Santana was at here heels. Quinn started walking. Rachel could easily keep up with her and she wasn't going to wait outside the locker room so Santana and the rest of them could see them talking or whatever Rachel wanted to do.

"Quinn," Rachel called out, chasing after her. When she caught up, she reached out a hand to grab Quinn's shoulder. Quinn shrugged her off a little harsher than necessary.

"What do you want, Rachel," she sighed as she kept on walking. Rachel, of course, took it all in stride.

"I've had a fantastic idea," Rachel chirped, a bright grin on her face as she struggle to keep up with Quinn's longer legs. Quinn was sort of curious how fast she'd have to go before the shorter girl would break into a jog.

"I don't need any of your ideas right now," she said in a fairly neutral tone. She wasn't trying to be mean, she just had quite a bit on her plate right now and Rachel's ideas tended to be on the time consuming side.

"Of course you don't, Quinn," Rachel said with a gentle, somewhat patronizing expression. "You're strong and competent and obviously don't need any help…_But_ you might be interested anyways. It'll be fun."

"I think we've known each other long enough to know that my version of fun is not the same as yours," Quinn bit back with a small smirk as she tried to walk just a little bit faster.

She wondered how long it would take for Rachel to figure out they were going in circles.

"No, you don't understand! It's perfect!" Rachel said, not out of breath in the slightest even though she was no officially jogging to keep up with Quinn. "You obviously have some issues to work out. I see how into dodgeball you got and you don't even have a grudge on anyone on the other team. And I know you don't want to talk about it…so just hear me out."

Quinn abruptly stopped, causing Rachel to almost trip over her own feet. She glared at the other girl and her earnest expression.

"Of course you could see how into dodgeball I was considering you were on the sideline in the first ten minutes. And you didn't even get hit," she sneered, feeling a little defensive.

She ignored Rachel's muttered defense ("it's a very violent game" "I didn't volunteer for it" "it wasn't even for anything, there was no prize" "my nose, Quinn, my nose") and looked at her. With her stupid pout and those stupid eyes that were pleading at her with a sort of innocent hope.

She sighed.

"What's your plan?" she asked, already regretting asking.

"I'm going to take you to the shooting range," she cheered, "where you can release some of this pent up aggression you seem to be harboring without any chance of retribution." Quinn just about laughed in her face.

"The shooting range?" she laughed, "What could you possibly know about guns?" Rachel, of course, huffed and crossed her arms, a stern expression lighting up her face.

"Quinn Fabray, just because I have two gay dads doesn't mean I am uninformed about proper gun care and use," she scolded, wiggling her finger in Quinn's direction.

"What, no," Quinn responded, a little flabbergasted at the accusation, "you're just tiny and small and a vegan. Isn't it against your morals or something to fire a gun?" Rachel shook her head at the other girl.

"It's against my morals to shoot animals, but targets are not animals," Rachel lectures, a small smile on her lips, "And I am tiny and small, and I live in a somewhat bigoted town with my interracial gay parents who leave me by myself at home a lot. And, soon enough, I'll be living in New York City. I felt it was pertinent to become licensed and informed in the use of a firearm." Quinn looked at her incredulously.

"That…makes sense," she responded after a moment. She imagined all the people who would've hesitated throwing a slushee at the girl with this knowledge. The thought of Rachel with a hand gun…that concentrated look she gets sometimes…

"Okay," she said, swallowing quickly, "I'm in." There was, after all, something completely cool about learning how to shoot a gun. Something a bit…badass. She didn't think she knew anybody their age who could use a gun. Neither Finn nor Puck's moms let them near the things and Mike seemed so peaceful. Kurt's dad might have tried dragging him hunting a couple times, but she doubted that lasted. Santana would never be allowed near a weapon and the thought of Brittany and guns was equally terrifying. Then again…she looked at Rachel.

"Splended," the other girl cheered, clapping her hands together in a demented fashion. "I will e-mail you the details." Quinn swallowed as she watched the other girl march off, a determined step in her gait.

Yeah, that was pretty terrifying too.


End file.
